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brianzangel13's review
5.0
I really enjoyed this book it has a young adult mystery feel to it. theres quite a bit going on but it all comes together very well.
juliamariereads's review
4.0
4.5.
Deliciously creepy. Not your usual YA urban fantasy.
TW: suicide, scenes with dead bodies, prostitution, family abuse.
Deliciously creepy. Not your usual YA urban fantasy.
TW: suicide, scenes with dead bodies, prostitution, family abuse.
not_a_salem_witch's review
4.0
Enjoyed the pacing of this book. Sometimes I feel as if the romances are going to fast but the romance in this book didn’t feel that way. I also enjoyed the relationship between Marsden and her little sister. I liked her internal struggle of trying to protect her sister from what was going on around them but still trying to let her do things she wanted.
ashilifee's review
4.0
I bought this book from a major discount store and was instantly intrigued by the name, the synopsis, and the cover (I know...never judge a book by it's cover but sometimes...). I admit, it was very slow to start off, even where I felt forced to dredge on through the novel. Over halfway through and I just wanted to make it to the end so I could complete it. It finally started to pick up speed towards the end. It was like the whole book was waiting on this moment, for the characters to realize what they were looking for.
I did like the naturally built relationship of Mars & Jude. It didn't seem rushed or pushed but how people actually fall in love. There weren't any big things like one having loads of money or something like that added into the mix, it was just nice and fun. Mars did get kind of annoying in the end but you can understand why. Even though it's a slow book to get through, it makes you more sympathetic to her character, especially the parallel with Jude & Rig and Mars & Wynn.
I also questioned Nina, who would ask a 16 yr old to start entertaining those older man? And the mother as well! But I think this shows another side of life, where our protectors don't always do the protecting. It also shows how easy her mother was going to give into Nina and just live life. Not her life but life.
I'm glad that Mars ended up saving herself. I would have liked to read more of how Mars ends up getting away from Glory with Jude (if that's the authors intention). Because it was a slow moving book, I think a '20 years later' etc would've been a nicer closing than everything happening in one day.
I did like the naturally built relationship of Mars & Jude. It didn't seem rushed or pushed but how people actually fall in love. There weren't any big things like one having loads of money or something like that added into the mix, it was just nice and fun. Mars did get kind of annoying in the end but you can understand why. Even though it's a slow book to get through, it makes you more sympathetic to her character, especially the parallel with Jude & Rig and Mars & Wynn.
I also questioned Nina, who would ask a 16 yr old to start entertaining those older man? And the mother as well! But I think this shows another side of life, where our protectors don't always do the protecting. It also shows how easy her mother was going to give into Nina and just live life. Not her life but life.
I'm glad that Mars ended up saving herself. I would have liked to read more of how Mars ends up getting away from Glory with Jude (if that's the authors intention). Because it was a slow moving book, I think a '20 years later' etc would've been a nicer closing than everything happening in one day.
pavi_fictionalworm's review
4.0
Disclaimer: An ARC was provided via Abrams YA Books and the Author as part of the Blog Tour. The Thoughts, opinions & feelings expressed in the review are however my own.
“We forget for a reason. If you remembered every single bad thing that ever happened to you, you’d never stop being sad.”
The blurb of this book gave a kick to the gut when I first heard about the book – and as I have come to experience; my gut is never wrong. And reading this book was nothing short of a bigger kick to the gut; which if taken rightly is one of the best things ever to happen in reading!
Marsden Eldridge aka Mars is a girl whose family’s past is a great big shadow on her and sister’s present. All she wants to do is save money and take her younger sister far away from the Covrt, the swamp that has taken the lives of so many!
Jude Ambrose is a boy who loves his elder brother, and is trying to understand why the brother, who has always protected him, would leave him by taking his own life. This trying to understand; makes him cross paths with Mars, a girl everyone in town talks about, but nobody actually knows about.
AND THAT’S ALL THAT YOU WOULD GET ABOUT THE PLOT FROM ME ANYWAYS.
The writing style of the author is slow; yet ironically moves at a steady pace – every single chapter gives new tidbit for the reader to find – like a layers being peeled away from the onion to find its invigorating!
The whole story is told in Mars POV; which is honestly great; but you know me; I love me some dual POVs – and I think it would have been made perfect if I had gotten Jude’s POV as well (especially that one single part which had me literally wanting to punch Jude!).
The ending though is left a bit open ended; I would LOVE to read an epilogue of where the characters are few years down the line; especially considering that they are in their teens in this book!
It was the gothic and haunted feel of the environment is beautifully captured by the author and it is the exact reason I will be keeping an eye on what she will be producing next!
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mostlyshanti's review
4.0
This book was not what I expectd. I guess I vaguely skimmed the synopsis when it came out, then placed a hold on it and got it some weeks later, then didn't read it, then waited weeks more for my hold to come through and finaaaaaallly read it a few weeks ago. Anyway, it turns out that it is not a high fantasy about an innkeepers daughter (which is good because I'm going to write that book) but instead an urban not-quite-fantasy about a girl living in a small town that shw wants to leave.
And maybe you’re thinking that you’ve heard that story before, and you probably have. Along the Indigo still felt fresh and new to me, though. Firstly, there are the paranormal vibes. Marsden’s family can supposedly hear the dead, and one thread of the story is her wondering if that’s really true. There’s also the covert: an old legend says that if you commit suicide there, if you have the soil in your hands, you will not go to hell. So there are bodies all over the place in the covert, and to aid her escape, Marsden is a ‘skimmer’—she combs through the bodies for money. Elsie Chapman uses these pieces of this to question all kinds of moral questions in a really elegant way. Is it right to profit from the dead? Should we try to hear their stories? I liked how the superstitions also played with the continuing awareness of salvations and morality in the US—I read an article about how, even though fewer Americans would say they go to church, Christian values still permeate their culture.
Marsden’s mother is a prostitute, and Marsden is being pressured to do that work herself. This gave the story and edgy, uncomfortable undertone about bodies. Living bodies can be manipulated for money just as Marsden makes profit from dead ones, and to exploit your own body is something profoundly uncomfortable and strange, but also something that can be chosen. I don’t quite know my own thoughts on this topic, but Chapman dealt splendidly with the exquisite irony of Marsden’s aversion to selling her own body, even as she took from other’s out of necessity.
Marsden is trying to make a story of her life, and she cannot see that she is the story. Even if “not tale had ever covered being rescued from the shore of a river that was the colour of mud. Or a covert stained with old blood. Or a town that was pitted with greed.” Her story aches with all kinds of longing, and yet she still builds meaningful relationships and is able to examine shards of her own greasy history. I loved the generational vibe of the story.
I read this several weeks ago, and it’s now hard for me to remember if Along The Indigo had a plot. It had a gradual coalescing of characters in situations that made them care in painful ways. It had a bit of kissing. It had sweaty nights and promises from sisters and long tragedy. It had people who counted money, and delicious meals and relationships that grew like wild ginger—not wanted, but decidedly there, permanent and staining and spicy. It was gorgeously written. “There were no words by she heard them still. They washed over like water, like the wind, and she read them the way she might read the weather, a fever, a face.” The writing is endlessly evocative. And it cocoons you in the story, so you are the story, even as the plot unwinds.
One thing I particularly appreciated about Along the Indigo was the visceral setting. I have not been to rural California (or, like, the US). It is winter here. But read this “Dawn was still edging over into day—the sky for navy to lavender to the shade of robins’ eggs, the air from cool to an inferno” and tell me that it does not feel like you are there. Read this “The sky, sooty with clouds, shot through with white lightning like the beings on the back of a grizzled hand” and tell me that you soul doesn’t fill with the icy anticipation of a storm. Storms and dawns are things I have seen described a thousand times, and yet Chapman still makes them feel fresh. Ou experience the clammy air of the covert with Marsden. You feel the soil beneath your feet, the wind in your hair as she fervently cycles to an emergency, you wonder about psychics and parents deaths as she does. That’s what makes this novel so lovely and tragic and curious—it is an utterly embodied experience.
This novel is an absolute experience, and felt quite unique. I really appreciated the eloqnence and brightness that renders this story, and I’m very glad I read it.
And maybe you’re thinking that you’ve heard that story before, and you probably have. Along the Indigo still felt fresh and new to me, though. Firstly, there are the paranormal vibes. Marsden’s family can supposedly hear the dead, and one thread of the story is her wondering if that’s really true. There’s also the covert: an old legend says that if you commit suicide there, if you have the soil in your hands, you will not go to hell. So there are bodies all over the place in the covert, and to aid her escape, Marsden is a ‘skimmer’—she combs through the bodies for money. Elsie Chapman uses these pieces of this to question all kinds of moral questions in a really elegant way. Is it right to profit from the dead? Should we try to hear their stories? I liked how the superstitions also played with the continuing awareness of salvations and morality in the US—I read an article about how, even though fewer Americans would say they go to church, Christian values still permeate their culture.
Marsden’s mother is a prostitute, and Marsden is being pressured to do that work herself. This gave the story and edgy, uncomfortable undertone about bodies. Living bodies can be manipulated for money just as Marsden makes profit from dead ones, and to exploit your own body is something profoundly uncomfortable and strange, but also something that can be chosen. I don’t quite know my own thoughts on this topic, but Chapman dealt splendidly with the exquisite irony of Marsden’s aversion to selling her own body, even as she took from other’s out of necessity.
Marsden is trying to make a story of her life, and she cannot see that she is the story. Even if “not tale had ever covered being rescued from the shore of a river that was the colour of mud. Or a covert stained with old blood. Or a town that was pitted with greed.” Her story aches with all kinds of longing, and yet she still builds meaningful relationships and is able to examine shards of her own greasy history. I loved the generational vibe of the story.
I read this several weeks ago, and it’s now hard for me to remember if Along The Indigo had a plot. It had a gradual coalescing of characters in situations that made them care in painful ways. It had a bit of kissing. It had sweaty nights and promises from sisters and long tragedy. It had people who counted money, and delicious meals and relationships that grew like wild ginger—not wanted, but decidedly there, permanent and staining and spicy. It was gorgeously written. “There were no words by she heard them still. They washed over like water, like the wind, and she read them the way she might read the weather, a fever, a face.” The writing is endlessly evocative. And it cocoons you in the story, so you are the story, even as the plot unwinds.
One thing I particularly appreciated about Along the Indigo was the visceral setting. I have not been to rural California (or, like, the US). It is winter here. But read this “Dawn was still edging over into day—the sky for navy to lavender to the shade of robins’ eggs, the air from cool to an inferno” and tell me that it does not feel like you are there. Read this “The sky, sooty with clouds, shot through with white lightning like the beings on the back of a grizzled hand” and tell me that you soul doesn’t fill with the icy anticipation of a storm. Storms and dawns are things I have seen described a thousand times, and yet Chapman still makes them feel fresh. Ou experience the clammy air of the covert with Marsden. You feel the soil beneath your feet, the wind in your hair as she fervently cycles to an emergency, you wonder about psychics and parents deaths as she does. That’s what makes this novel so lovely and tragic and curious—it is an utterly embodied experience.
This novel is an absolute experience, and felt quite unique. I really appreciated the eloqnence and brightness that renders this story, and I’m very glad I read it.
bookwormyami's review against another edition
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
3.0
The story was good enough to make me want to keep on reading to see what will happen but at the same time, nothing was happening. Also, I really did not like Marsden's mother or Nina.
becxreadz's review against another edition
challenging
dark
hopeful
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
Liked
*The cover
*Thr sister relationship
*Kept me reading to see what was going to be discovered
*Diverse cast
Disliked
*Horrible horrible mother
*Predictible mystery
*Unnecessary romance
*Nothing much happened for the majority of the story other than cooking and searching for a tin
*The cover
*Thr sister relationship
*Kept me reading to see what was going to be discovered
*Diverse cast
Disliked
*Horrible horrible mother
*Predictible mystery
*Unnecessary romance
*Nothing much happened for the majority of the story other than cooking and searching for a tin
ksmarsden's review
4.0
Marsden wants nothing more than to escape the small town of Glory, with all its ghosts, and dead-end future. Until she meets the brother of a suicide victim, and starts to ask the right questions.
I received a free copy from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
I was initially drawn to this because the main character is a girl called Marsden, something I've never come across before; and because it sounded intriguing.
I think I was expecting a mystery, with teenage kids solving murders, etc.
And... it did kinda involve that, but mainly it was a deeply moving coming-of-age story for Marsden, who works as a cook and cleaner in the brothel where her mother "works".
It's about her devotion to her innocent little sister, Wynn, and how far she will go to protect her.
It's about being shackled to the cursed land her family inherited, where it is rumoured that people can cleanse their souls by touching the dirt on the land, before committing suicide.
Mostly, it was weird. But the weird kinda worked.
It's set in the 80's, and it follows Marsden as she turns sixteen, and the pressure is suddenly on. She needs to make enough money to get herself and her sister as far away as possible, before Nina (the brothel owner) forces her into prostitution.
Nina is a cold, conniving woman, and thinks nothing of selling the body of the girl she has practically been a surrogate mother to, and watched grow up.
When Marsden's father died, he left them with a lot of debt, which Nina has stepped in to shoulder. In return, Marsden and her mother work for her. Nina goes on to reduce Marsden's wages in the name of paying the debt off, trying to coax her into the more financially-rewarding job of being one of her "girls".
Fortunately, Marsden has a side job. The covert (the cursed family land) is a major lure for those that feel there is no other way, and people travel from all over the country to commit suicide on the land. Marsden has got into the habit of checking the covert every morning, so she can report the bodies to the local police. At the same time, she skims them for any money they might be carrying, taking it for her escape fund.
So yeah, not your conventional coming-of-age story.
It does focus a lot on prostitution and suicide, but they are written in a way that makes them feel normal and humdrum - for Marsden, at least. At no point does it trivialise these themes, I found the book very respectful throughout.
The story starts off slowly, and even after she meets Jude in the covert (he's looking for answers about why his brother committed suicide), and they become friends, it still keeps ticking along at the same pace.
It was only about two-thirds of the way in, I realised how connected I was to these characters, and how I wanted to find out the mysteries that have been discreetly building.
I received a free copy from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
I was initially drawn to this because the main character is a girl called Marsden, something I've never come across before; and because it sounded intriguing.
I think I was expecting a mystery, with teenage kids solving murders, etc.
And... it did kinda involve that, but mainly it was a deeply moving coming-of-age story for Marsden, who works as a cook and cleaner in the brothel where her mother "works".
It's about her devotion to her innocent little sister, Wynn, and how far she will go to protect her.
It's about being shackled to the cursed land her family inherited, where it is rumoured that people can cleanse their souls by touching the dirt on the land, before committing suicide.
Mostly, it was weird. But the weird kinda worked.
It's set in the 80's, and it follows Marsden as she turns sixteen, and the pressure is suddenly on. She needs to make enough money to get herself and her sister as far away as possible, before Nina (the brothel owner) forces her into prostitution.
Nina is a cold, conniving woman, and thinks nothing of selling the body of the girl she has practically been a surrogate mother to, and watched grow up.
When Marsden's father died, he left them with a lot of debt, which Nina has stepped in to shoulder. In return, Marsden and her mother work for her. Nina goes on to reduce Marsden's wages in the name of paying the debt off, trying to coax her into the more financially-rewarding job of being one of her "girls".
Fortunately, Marsden has a side job. The covert (the cursed family land) is a major lure for those that feel there is no other way, and people travel from all over the country to commit suicide on the land. Marsden has got into the habit of checking the covert every morning, so she can report the bodies to the local police. At the same time, she skims them for any money they might be carrying, taking it for her escape fund.
So yeah, not your conventional coming-of-age story.
It does focus a lot on prostitution and suicide, but they are written in a way that makes them feel normal and humdrum - for Marsden, at least. At no point does it trivialise these themes, I found the book very respectful throughout.
The story starts off slowly, and even after she meets Jude in the covert (he's looking for answers about why his brother committed suicide), and they become friends, it still keeps ticking along at the same pace.
It was only about two-thirds of the way in, I realised how connected I was to these characters, and how I wanted to find out the mysteries that have been discreetly building.
jessicanoel's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.25
Highly recommend this book, but there are many mentions of suicide so if that bothers you don't read this book. Wynn is such an adorable little girl and the author did a great job of portraying Mars. With a couple twists throughout the book, it's a quick read that you won't want to put down.